The Thorne in the Rose
by Raven Acanthe
Summary: Ignored, pushed around and invisible Faith Reapers has let ice seep into her heart. So, when the Fayz came and the mutations come and their powers are realised she relishes the chance to get revenge now that no one can stop her. But Caine, the sociopathic four bar has other plans for mutants who aren't utterly and completely loyal.


Prologue

My arm was sliced open, but my blood had ceased gushing out. I hadn't noticed.

I was tired, dazed confused, hardly lucid. I had no idea where I was, what time it was. And what I was doing, and now, I didn't know what the hell I was. These black markings that wrapped around my body like vines were like a branding. They ran up my neck, chest, torso and legs. But yes, that's what I thought of them, a branding. They were a permanent reminder of what I was; they are a burn mark, that's what they are. When I attacked Diana, when I revealed my true nature and when it happened, whatever happened, It felt like I was burning alive. That's when these markings came, vine looking black tattoos burnt onto my flesh and my soul. I looked up from the ground, raising my head and clearing my head and banishing these thoughts with a slight shake of my head. I looked up and instantly regretted it. A crowd of filthy looking kids turned and stared right at me; I looked back with a fearless glare and stopped, dragging me feet slightly. I began recognising the crimson fabric of Coates Academy appearing in the crowd like black shells on white sand. It looked like that those who hadn't joined Caine or had been imprisoned by the bastard had escaped here. I looked around and realised I must be in some sort of abandoned ghost town. Nature had mostly taken over, save the warehouse hidden partially by an old drugstore and tool shop, most of the kids seemed to be coming from the alleyway that separated the two shops. I didn't fear the gathering crowd; they seemed to entertain themselves by gawking open-mouthed at my exposed tattoos. The only reason I regretted being spotted by the gathering crowd was that Katie Clanes stood right at the front glaring right at me. Katie had been my own personal tormenter since day one of Coates. I had been at Coates for two years and for those two years I had learnt many things. I became excellent at reading people, in this new environment I had to know who too trust, it wasn't a choice if I was going to survive, and Katie had made surviving this school a challenge. She had turned many girls against me who could have potentially been my friends. She never liked me for the simple reason that I wasn't afraid of her. She hated the fact that when she had something to say over my hair or how I actually decided to do my homework, that I didn't shrink back with a squeak, she hated that I bit back, that I wasn't a coward. Teachers, police officers, and all these adults that held her, stopping her torment from becoming physical were gone, along with everyone else over 15. And now here she was, standing right in front of me with a wooden bloody baseball bat. I was injured, dehydrated, hungry and tired, I couldn't win this one. I looked up giving her my most defeated face I could muster. My three second spur of the moment plan was to let her think that I was totally submissive, and that she wouldn't view me as a threat and would let me pass. But this look just enticed her on, she swung the bat around, as if this was a signal the crowd began circling around us forming a circle closing me in, trapping me in with her. The circle that enclosed me was about five meters wide. Perfect for a beating. "Look at what the whores dragged in." She let out a girlish chuckle. She then casually enough swung her bat and smacked the side of my head. The force of the hit combined with my current state left me to crumple to the ground with a thud. With that, seeing me on the ground groaning from the pain was enough for her to let out a laugh. "Is that all? Is that all?! IS THAT ALL?! That's what I get for actually expecting something from such a pathetic cunt." Something broke inside me, snapped. Not my pride, not my heart but a lock. That lock had kept something at bay, something that was part of me, something I had always known to be there. My skin began to burn, though not nearly as bad as before. My tattoos began to glow an eerie amber, my eyes became sharper, far more intense, and my senses increased tenfold. Though thankfully for the sake of everyone here I didn't turn into...well whatever I turned into. Katie had her back turned to me, hands raised, fists in the air revelling in the crowds appeasement, breathing it in. She began to turn, sensing something was off. Too late. By the time she had turned around to face me, I was upon her swinging my fist into her face. The crowds cheering dropped dead. Each of their beady, hungry, eyes feasting on this turn of events. As strong as I was, the force of my hit shouldn't have done that to her. When my fist connected with the left of her face some bone of hers snapped, her eye more or less exploded or was crushed. Blood gushing down her face she let out an ear-splitting scream or screech more like it. I took a step back, breath coming in rapid gulps of air, but as I did so, all my pain, hurt, _my misery_ came back like a dark, nightmarish wave, engulfing me. My tattoos ceased glowing, as I took a step to her, holding the right side of her head in one hand and the left side of her neck in the other. 'N-no, that's not how the game works! p-please..." Katie stammered. I looked her in her remaining emerald eye quickly filling with tears that raced down her face. The wave didn't hold me anymore, instead it had settled in the bottom of my stomach as a ball of ice turning my blood cold.

_"Game over."_

Slumped ungraciously against the plastic, gum, saliva laced seat I slowly tipped it back rocking it back and forth rhythmically as I stared blankly at the clock. Tick,tick,tick. Just about the only noise I could even give a damn about in any classroom here at Coates school for the rich demented children dumping ground. Of course that's not what they literally called it , but all the kids here did. Not all of them were sociopaths, psychopaths or just plain fucked in the brain. No, not all of them. I slowly gazed around to spot Brianna, yeah she was pretty cool, she was leaning over to her friend in the next seat talking in a hushed tone giggling occasionally. According to my best friend Thalia she had been sent here for failing math. Which to tell the truth was a pretty pitiful reason to ditch you're offspring at Perdido beach California. Flicking my gaze across the classroom I spotted another girl named Dekka, Dekka was far more solemn and withdrawn not really the sociable type , honestly more like myself and our boring teacher Mr Mc Caron. I nearly snorted in derision at his outfit. A white un ironed shirt with a maroon woollen vest over it with grey trousers and a black belt with a batman buckle that looked like he had stolen it from Howard from the 'Big Bang Theory'. Dragging my gaze to the back of the classroom at the far end I spotted Drake. Blond, sandy hair hanging down to the back of his neck toying with his grey 'Mayhem' pencil case shifting uncomfortably in his uniform ,was a perfect example of why this school could pass for a youth Asylum. This fourteen year old happened to be one of the biggest bullies in school alongside Caine and Diana. I swung my head forward again and closed my eyes and breathed in out with a theatre worthy sigh. 'God, when will this day e-' my thought was cut off with a dramatic gasp from Brianna. I opened my eyes to see about half the class standing up. Dekka sat there in her seat looking stunned and Brianna stood frozen on the ground looking scared as if she'd seen her own death. In this class of 17 people only two of them didn't join in the rising panic that was beginning to grip them. I sat there more mildly interested then panicked and dazed

"Where is he?!"

"Did,d-did he just disappear?!"

"No,no,no! I-I mean Jason he's not an alien or something!'

"Dude, Benno he was right there!"

"Er, guys it's just like a trick or something"

As the kids began to realise that it wasn't a trick,that none of them had a rational explanation to why their teacher pulled a Dynamo worth party trick, absolute silence fell across the room. About half of them jumped as a loud scraping sound of a lone chair carried across the room, Drake stood up. All heads turned and faced him eyes round as moons and with hope that he knew what was going on. They were to be disappointed.

Drake raised his head and turned his blue eyes to everyone,

"No, he's gone."

Chapter One

_The Dawn of the Fayz_

Three Days later...

Drake Merwin's lonely whistle echoed down the halls of Perdido beaches' high school. Faith Reapers walked aimlessly beside him and gave him a sidelong half glance, half glare. He returned the look with his infamous shark-like grin. Drake looked closely at her while she looked away. Raven black hair falling in glossy curls down to her shoulders. She had a lightly tanned complexion complimenting her bright, powerful amber eyes. Wearing black- leather fingerless gloves, a black singlet top with a leather jacket , ripped jeans and black boots she was just about his only friend. Only person in fact he would call his friend. Pre- FAYZ he might have called his Grand- father and his biological father his friend, or closest thing too it anyway.

All of Faiths' friends had escaped the Coates take over when the FAYZ came. Nobody knew what happened that day, it was honest to god the most normal day, nobody saw it coming. Though a few knew something strange was going on. Some kids in the school had started realising they could do things others couldn't, stuff that didn't make sense. Started practicing too, Caine over saw that while Drake ensured that kids didn't spill about the whole thing. Then this dome thing came down just as Drake caught Diana nosing through the schools filing system and finding his profile. He still remembered the way her stupid face filled with fear as she read the words psychopath and Sadistic. A small smile crawled its way onto his face as he fantasised the moment when he would finally get hurt her, hurt her bad enough that she would be weeping and begging for his mercy , and when

He was sure her pretty face wasn't so pretty anymore then he'd leave her to bleed. "Not with Caine alive you won't." Faith casually said. Drake gave her a startled look like a deer realising it was being hunted.

"W-what, how...?"

"I've seen that look before."

"What, when?!"

"Whenever you think about smashing the lovely Diana's face in, or fantasising about anything in that general direction of thought."

"That's mean, stop laughing about it" Drake growled playfully as he watched Faith give him a mean grin.

"Huh, he huffed, could've been thinking about you."

"What,me?! Faith said with a face of mock horror, and I thought we were friends."

"No, your'e wayy too much of a badass for me" he said wearing his shark grin. "At least you admit it," Faith said through a grin as she gave him a playful shove "Uh huh" He said as he pushed open the gym doors. "Ok, this conversation just ended." Faith said as she slumped down on a bleacher. Drake opened his mouth to say something and closed it when he realized Diana Ladris stood behind him wearing her usual smirk. "Diana," Faith said with an even tone to match her gaze. "Faith," Diana said matching Faith's tone. Diana actually held a level of respect for Faith; they might have actually been friends if Faith wasn't so close with Drake. "What do you want, Diana?" Faith asked impatiently. "Faith, honestly you know it's never what I want, it's always Caine's all powerful will that we obey."

"Cut it with the liberation speech Diana and tell me what the fuck you want because I know, and it obviously breaks my heart that I'm not the first person you'd want to hang out with." Drake growled sarcastically. With a sigh Diana replied, "Caine wants to speak with Faith." Faith glanced up at the mention of her name, raising a curious eye brow. "Now " She added impatiently. Faith inhaled deeply as she rose from the bleachers seat. Faith pulled the PE Coordinators office to see Caine sitting at an over-sized desk legs up and crossed with a smug look to match his personality. "Salutations." " Hi, Caine. Diana said you wanted something? "

"Oh, yes just a regular check for powers, nothing out of the usual."

He said dismissively.

"Ah, I see." Faith replied fighting down her rising panic.

Drake sat at a white fold up table, leaning back in his chair with hardly a care. Life was good, he thought. No adults around, he could do whatever the hell he wanted and now he was sheriff off the town he could beat the crap out of anyone who pissed him off. These thoughts past through his mind as he stared at the door leading into the office were Caine and Faith were. His thoughts were abruptly cut off by the sight of blood spraying the glass window followed by an ear splitting scream belonging to Diana.

Caine despised those who had power. Those even with the most thin of chances of rising up against him he didn't tolerate unless they were loyal to him, but he reserved his inner most hatred for Faith. Before the FAYZ he didn't even acknowledge her existence, she would have continued to just be another extra in the story that was his life. He hated her for the most simplest of reasons. Her relationship with Drake posed the threat of an uprising, Drake was a brilliant fighter, he took down the idiot Orc without effort, and he also didn't have a conscience to slow him down with guilt and torment. He also knew how to use a gun, he was a good god damn shot with it too. Faith could put ideas in his head, which could spark his own mind to think. Caine's' intelligence and telekinesis were the only thing that separated the two, and if Drake became intelligent and joined Faith, they would be unstoppable. Caine didn't need Diana's' power to know that Faith had powers, what other possible reason could there be to why Faith wasn't afraid of him? So when Faith stood before and he explained why she asked for him he relished the small flash of fear that appeared in her eyes momentarily. That was enough confirmation for him, he signalled for Diana to come in. But, out of all the things he expected to happen, he didn't expect what happened next. No-one did, especially Faith.

Diana tailed Faith through the basketball court to Caine's' office, when she entered his office Diana closed the door her behind her whilst swallowing a fiendish grin, she then turned and leaned on the door. Finally, Caine would have an excuse to kick Faiths' sorry ass out of Coates, most kids left thought she was ok. But they steered clear of her and stayed well out of her way. Not that they were scared of her, but of Drake. Ugh, Drake. Diana feared him, but while Drake had someone else to hate, she was safe. She knew she should have broken into the filing system, at the time she mostly feared that a teacher might have caught, that they would inform her parents... Diana in her calculations never included each and every adult disappearing within a matter of seconds, never counted on the only people keeping Drake in his classes would fade into air that Drake would be standing in the Library doorway, right behind her grinning as dread crept into her heart. As Diana rested her head back, listening to both Faith and Caine she drew a deep breath. She looked forward and spotted Drake sitting on a chair legs up on a fold up table looking to the ceiling, eyes closed with the ghost of a smile brushing his lips. Diana tipped her head back, and continued listening to Caine. -..." check for powers, nothing out of usual." This was the signal. Caine's' plan was to box her in; he suspected her power was useful, that it might be used for his own bidding. If Faith fled then it would be obvious that she had some sort of power, a power that she had kept hidden from Caine. But if she acted as if she had none, cooperated, and accepted Caine's' offer of freedom for loyalty and allegiance she would be safe.

They were to be disappointed.

Faith turned her around to see Diana walk into the office and close the door behind her. She knew what was happening; she also knew her next action would decide her fate.

Faith couldn't. She just couldn't. Joining Caine, no, it wasn't right. He was sociopathic, cold and stone hearted; he held no emotional ties, loyalties to anyone but Diana and himself. Hah, I laughed to myself, Drake is just as bad, not cold-blooded but, his morals are twisted. B-but I cared for him. Why? These thoughts circled through her head as she gave a start of alarm as Diana grabbed her arm. No! Too late. Diana held my arm in an iron grip, her fiery glare turned to a look of fear as she realised my power. I began panicking, In my head thoughts and memories all bashed senselessly at my skull, screaming at my conscience. They spoke different words but their meaning was the same, Caine was going to kill me, I was going to die. With that though, I silenced my catastrophic mind, roaring in impatience at my conscience, and I decided that today I wasn't going to die. My focus shifted from reality, so I missed Diana beginning to tell Caine that I was a 3 Bar, I also missed Caine screaming at Diana to get back. I didn't know whether he meant to kill or to neutralize me so he could tie me up, I didn't My skin began to burn, a hellish heat radiated from my bones. It was horrific, I began to change, where my heart and mind once resided cold, blue, and fury took their places. Thorn-sharp claws curled and grew in the place of my nails; dark fur covered my skin, rushing over me like water when you jump into the sea, covering me, engulfing me. My senses became so sharp, so sensitive that it was inhuman, t-this can't be happening! It's not possible! As the thought rushed through me, the rage, hatred became too much and fury took over. My remaining conscience somehow noted that I was remarkably taller too; I towered over a terrified Diana. The whole transformation had only gone on for seconds it seems, but it had been eons for me. I lifted my left paw and swiped down with a force I never dreamed I would possess, the blow struck Diana down the side of her face, blood streamed down her neck from the three horrid claw marks.

_I'm a monster_, my conscience whimpered feebly.

Drake sat in shock for a minute, staring at the blood decorating the window pane. No, no... It can't be. He thought miserably. He would kill Caine. If that was Faiths' blood, if he walked into that room to find her skull smashed, he would smash Caine's'. As he began to stand up, a part of him knew that he would be very much dead before he even touched Caine. Drake took one step forward before jumping back with fright and door leading to Caine's' office covered with blood practically exploded. The door flew from its' hinges, the wall around it broke into hunks of rocks that landed alongside the door. A dark shape flew through the wreckage and landed atop of the rubble with a heavy thud. The dark form stayed unmoving, most probably unconscious; suddenly the thing was enveloped in black shadowy smoke. The shape shrunk down twice as small as it had been, and the shape he came to recognise as Faith.

Caine's' rage didn't stop once he had thrown her through the wall. To him, she didn't deserve the fate of imprisonment. To be beaten and starved wasn't good enough; he was going to kill her- "Caine!" Drake shouted through the dust. Caine stopped and glared at him. Who's' side are you on, Drake? Caine thought with cold wariness. Caine knew that Drake had feelings for her, would Drake finally turn against him and try and save her? Then Drake Merwin did something that Caine Soren never thought possible.

"Caine!" Drake called to Caine. He wasn't sure this was going to work, but it was his only hope for saving Faith. "Caine, wait, don't kill her," Drake said. "Why the bloody hell not?!" Caine snarled. "She's' obviously a three bar, she could be very useful! She has a power that's' useful for combat, and how many moofs do we have here that are actually useful?" Drake argued. The icy fire that danced in Caine's eyes froze as he stopped to consider the idea. Drake could see the cogwheels turning rhythmically in Caine's' head. Caine after a moment's hesitation gave a slight nod of his head and hissed at Drake to bind her hands and legs, and tie her up outside with the rest. Drake wondered round for rope and found some in the Gym closet. As he bound her legs and hands he nearly laughed out loud at the reaction of a psychologist hearing someone tell the tale of a Psychopath reasoning with a sociopath.

Three days surfacing in and out of conscience was not the most pleasant of experiences. The things I saw at first were just distorted images. Black shapes I eventually made out to be humanoid. Then I began to hear sounds, sounds that I slowly made out to be voices. I surfaced once to see a dark shape stand over another lying down. The one lying down began to sob, it wept at the feet of the one standing up that just stared at the other and laughed. The standing one kicked the other repeatedly hard enough that I thought he intended to kill it. Once the brute seemed to have finished he walked off, thankfully away from me. The beaten thing laid there still long enough that I thought it was dead, until it gave a hacking cough spluttering and wheezing whilst it sat itself up . With that I closed my eyes, and the last thing I saw before retreating back to my conscience was a pair of icy blue eyes.

"Faith!, Faith, wake up damn it!" Faith blinked her eyes open. As she shook the sleepiness from her eyes she looked around, she seemed to be on the ash felt basketball court back at Coates. Faith stared around confused at why she was here. "Faith!" said a voice growled impatiently beside her. Faith gave a slight jump and looked beside her to see Dekka sitting beside her hands cemented in a concrete-gravel block. "Dekka, Faith cried in alarm, what the bloody hell happened?!" "Caine happened, he imprisoned any mutant who defies him, doesn't do his dirty work and doesn't want to be one of his lackeys," Dekka snarled. Faith then noticed how thin she was in comparison to herself. She also noticed the tight leather collar that wrapped itself around Dekkas' neck, the collar was attached to a rope that was tied to a metal bar that ran alongside the Coates building behind us. I realised that my own hands were bound with rope behind me as I attempted to stand up, yet I was grateful that my hands weren't encased in cement. Faiths' mind began to untangle itself into organised thoughts. "H-how long have I been out?" Faith finally stammered. It was the only thing she could think clearly about, the only thing she wanted to think about. "You spent about three days on the ground, muttering, growling and snoring." Dekka said. If Dekka had a sense of humour, Faith would have to think that she just heard it. Faith thoughts circled back to Drake. Was he at fault? Had he noticed her powers somehow and warned Caine? Was their friendship nothing more than an object, an opportunity to suck up to Caine? " Dekka gave me a sharp nudge with her pointed elbow and hissed at Faith " You're not still with them are you? You'd be in a hole in the ground if it weren't, god forgive me, Drake." Faith now had no control, her thoughts raced to Drake. Oh, what have you done? After a minutes silence she turned to see Dekka staring at her, "What?" Faith asked, "Three days, you survived unconscious with no food and water and you look like you just woke up from a nap." "Well, um I -" "Faith, you're awake!" cried a familiar voice. Faith looked up to see Drake jogging over to me bright eyed wearing his shark-grin. He crouched in front of her ignoring Dekka's hate filled glare, "Three days! For three fucking days you gave me a heart-attack!" "Drake, Faith said with more curiously than fear, what happened?" Drakes' expression of yes, _actual happiness_ faded to be replaced by a guarded look. "I-I honestly don't know, all I know is that Caine smashed you through the office wall, he was going to kill you but I convinced him otherwise, " Drake said, he then pulled out his hunting knife. I opened my eyes to see Drake no longer crouching in front of me. I turned to see him behind me, he then grabbed the rope attaching me and the bar and began cutting away with the knife.

My hands and legs unbound, I stood up and rubbed sorely at the red marks that ringed around my wrists and ankles. I rubbed the back of my neck and discovered a leather collar like Dekka's around my neck, I tugged at it, attempting to pry it off or tear it loose. "You have to go, like right now, "Drake said with a note of urgency. I looked into his blue eyes, deciding whether to trust him, I saw nothing there but sincerity and something else I couldn't quite pick. Drake then handed me his knife handle first, "You're, - You're probably going to need to protect yourself, "he said, obviously not liking having to send me off by myself with just a knife to defend myself. That or he wasn't happy giving me his knife. "T-thanks," I managed to stammer, a sudden rush of thoughts hit me. _Caine will kill Drake if he finds out..._ _this will probably be the last time I see him... YOLO_. I hugged my arms around his neck and buried my hands in his blond hair and kissed him. To my surprise, he kissed me back, he ran his hands down my back and hugged me closer to him than I thought possible. I let go of him, and looked in his blue eyes for the last time before someone shot me in the back.

Chapter Two

_Blood, Bone and Iron_

No sound echoed through the alley-way. Katie lay sprawled in front of me. Her lifeless face stared at me, her green eyes glazed over. I crouched over her and took her gun out of its sheath. I unstrapped the sheath tied to her leg and strapped it to my own and sheathed the gun. All the while, the crowd stood frozen, staring at me watching my every move with fear and wariness. I looked around at them; none of them seemed sad or angry about Katie's demise. At that moment I decided to do something I meet thought I could do, something I never that I would do." Most of you here I realise went to Coates Academy, back then, back in the days of school we had teachers, police officers, firefighters... Now, everyone's gone, and now some kids are realising they're different, like me. It looks like you all have been living here for a while, I can offer you training in combat, teach you how to use a gun, I can teach you how to survive if you stick with me," I promised. A brown and blond haired girl stepped forward from the crowd, "And what do you want in return?" She asked. After a second of thought I answered, "Your loyalty."

The bullets impact shook me to the core. I felt it drive it right through my back next to my spine. The pain was unbelievable, everything slowed down and Drakes face filled with horror. Time sped up and the force threw me at Drake knocking him over with myself sprawling after him.

I looked up to see Penny holding a smoking shotgun. Penny was the same age as me, around 14. She was in love with Caine; she would do anything for him which included shooting people in the back. "Faith!" Drake shrieked. _'I should be dead_...; I thought silently, I should be dead. A surge of energy I had never felt before rushed through me, speeding my mind and shooting adrenaline through my veins. I shot up and rushed Penny, obviously not expecting it a look of shock gripped her face, and she numbly reached for her gun to reload with a second's hesitation, a second too late. I yanked the gun from her hands and knocked her out with the butt of the gun. "Run, RUN!" I turned to see Drake shout at me. A handful of guards must of heard the gun shot as they sprinted around the building right at me, I tucked Drakes knife behind my belt. I didn't even think as I charged at them, they stopped and stared at me utterly bewildered as I sprinted past them. I didn't even think what was going to happen to Drake as I ran through the car park and smashed open the window of a rusted old Ute. I pulled myself up and clambered in cutting my hands on the jagged glass as I did so. Kids these days obviously weren't too concerned about other kids stealing their cars so they usually kept the keys in the car. I snatched the keys from the passenger seat and shoved them in the ignition and turned over the engine. After a couple of rushed frantic tries the engine grumbled to life. I had never driven a car and didn't think I could, then again I had never thought I could survive being shot, thrown through a wall and starved so how hard could driving a car for the first time on the run be? I gingerly stepped on the accelerator and pushed down and the car began to crawl forward. Bam! A bullet shot through the back of the car whizzing past my head and nearly shattering the entire front window. That was all the encouragement I needed. I slammed the accelerator and all my GTA 5 experience rushed back to me. Stay on the road, don't hit other cars, fuck the police, stay on the road don't hit a tree, don't hit a cow and fuck the police. I stayed in the middle of the road and tried to focus on the yellow lines. Steering was difficult due to my right arm being sliced open and bleeding all over my pants. I drove as fast and as hard as I could away from Coates academy, away from Caine, away from poor Dekka and Brianna and away from the only person I truly care about.

Two days later in Stefano Rey National Park...

We all sat in the alley way around a wooden table. By we, I meant myself, Daryl, a good looking albino boy and Andrea, the blond and brown haired girl. It was quiet now; all of the kids had gone back to their run down houses in the small, former ghost town." So how long have you all been here?" I asked. "We all came here as a group, most escaped Coates and some kids from Perdido tagged along too when everyone was running around panicked during the first few days." Andrea answered. "Right, I think we should begin with the basics, we should make an inventory of the food we have. We should store it all in a secured place and have it under watch, foods not gonna last forever and people will do stupid things if they're hungry or scared enough." I said. Andrea gave me thoughtful glance, "hmm, if we keep coming up with stuff like this, we just might survive this," she waved her hand around pointing to the sky. "What do you think?" We both looked to Daryl. Daryl was actually quite smart, he didn't talk much but when he did it was worth listening to what he had to say. He closed his eyes and let out a long sigh, "I think if we organise ourselves and don't make too many stupid-ass mistakes we might just make it."

In the warehouse there were two floors. The second floor was just about the cleanest place so most kids had dragged mattresses up there to sleep on. The first floor was separated in two rooms; one room was empty apart from some cargo boxes. The other room only contained wooden book cases for some unknown reason. The warehouse sat one a lush, bright green field. A Forest surrounded the entire town and the warehouse sat close to the edge. Behind the warehouse a granny flat/shed building was nestled sleepily with a beautiful view of the woodland. I walked there in silence, the amount of working and planning to be done weighing down on my shoulders. I slid open the wooden- fly screen door with a heavy sigh. I walked in and flicked one a flickering light. It was a small place, I had no idea who had lived here before but they had kept it well organised. A long, oak desk was nudged against the wall on the right of the room. At the back of the flat was a small room with a toilet and basin with a small rectangular mirror. An oak sliding door separated the main room and the mini bathroom. Shoved in the corner of the flat a room about the half the size of the bathroom housed the shower. The main room with the desk also had a small fireplace on the left and a double queen bed with thick black covers next to a wooden column that stretched from the roof to the floor. It wasn't anything fancy, but it was home. With that thought in mind I walked over to my bed, collapsed onto it and past into a deep, deep sleep.

It was muggy, even stuffy I noticed as I lied down face up in the Forest. I let out a huff as a heavy weight planted itself on my chest. I opened my eyes to stare open eyed at a dark purple, long fanged mountain cat sitting right on top of me; I was barefoot, with a white singlet and black shorts. " Ah good, your finally lucid, you know your conscience took quite a bit of effort to tap into, Static nearly had to force the connection, Static nearly lost his patience." It said as it hopped off my chest. I stood up while gawking open-mouthed as the feline's mouth moved up and down making words. " Wha-what, am I dreaming?" I stuttered. "Good, your smart at least, yes, you are." The cat replied. " B-but, it's so real!" I exclaimed as I caught and examined a too green leaf that fluttered past my nose. The cat flattened his ears and said, "Have you ever heard of the term, '_Lucid dreaming'_?" I looked at him curiously and said, "When your conscience that your dreaming?" As if it even came close to answering any of my questions he gave a nod and jerked his head forward, motioning me to follow him. He led me out of the clearing and onto a bank. "What is your name, cat?" I asked him as I stared out at the dark, rushing river. "Static, Static is the cats' name." He replied. I had barely registered what he had said before about the connection thing. "You're Static?" I asked as I watched him wash his paw, hardly paying attention to me. Right. So I was having a ' Lucidish dream' about a talking cat who spoke in third person in a forest. _Perfectly normal._ _Grahhhh!_ An unhuman growl sounded behind me. Static jumped to his feet, flattened his ears and bared his teeth with a hiss. When I spun round at first I couldn't see it. Then I spotted the ripple in the air, and the disembodied, floating pair of amber eyes. The transparent figure looked humanoid; it didn't move as I crouched slowly and picked up a rock. It stood just as still, its iris- less eyes following me as I aimed for its' head. I tossed the rock full force and watched it sail through, the thing didn't even flinch. _GRAHHH! _The thing let out a terrible roar and strode toward me. "Shit, Static, help! I think I just pissed it off!" I cried. I looked to Static and realised he wasn't there. "Static cannot help you, Static can guide you, you must not run, you must not drown, you cannot swim, and you must walk side by side to be whole." He said as he sat perched calmly on a tree branch above the growling entity. I backed up into the river as the rage-filled thing closed in. The cold water rushed around my bare ankles, as I stood in the middle of the shallow body of water. I tried to take another step back and realised I couldn't. Both of my feet were frozen to the bed of the river, I couldn't even move my toes when I tried. The entity entered the river disturbing the water, walking towards me. Now that it was closer, I could see more of its details. It looked like a werewolf, 6 feet tall, a long snout with twin pointed fangs producing either side. It raised its left paw and swung down at me, assuming its intent was to tear me in half I covered my head, ducking down, feet frozen to the ground, fear rushed through me in a black tide as I felt its claws tearing through my neck.

_'Static cannot help you, Static can guide you, you must not run, you must not drown, you cannot swim, and you must walk side by side to be whole'..._ '_Static cannot help you, Static can guide you, you must not run, you must not drown, you cannot swim, and you must walk side by side to be whole'..._

These words echoed through my mind as I woke up screaming. A thin sheen of sweat stuck to my skin, my hair in a tangled mess, and my breath coming out in ragged gulps I rolled of my bed and staggered to the bathroom.

"Okay,...guns?" Andrea brought up.

It was around eight in the morning and for three hours we had done nothing but plan, plan, and plan and oh yes, plan. I had been sitting there for too long, sitting there at this table discussing weapons, food, medicine places for everyone to sleep. At first it was fun; at first I put forward plenty of ideas and suggestions. But, after the first hour and a half it got kind of boring. We sat at the same table in the ally way from before. More kids that were scattered around the town had moved to the houses closer to the warehouse. "I think we should focus on our medical supplies before we focus on our arsenal." Daryl reasoned. "What? Taking inventory of the drugstore? We raided the drugstore and have already locked everything up." Andrea said, brushing him off. "Just because we have it, doesn't mean we know how to use it." He argued "He's right, we need to establish roles, give kids jobs, things to do, we can't have them lying around doing nothing all day." I said. Both Daryl and Andrea gave me interested looks. I promised you guys in return for leadership and your loyalty I would provide a working system of survival." "Meaning..." Andrea said urging me on. "Meaning, we need a hierarchy of some sort, a social pyramid, I mean every civilisation had one." I finished, thinking off the spot. "Ok, well our plan is to basically start a new society amongst those left, you know, strength in numbers and that." Andrea began. " I think your right, we can set this out easily enough," she opened a notebook that was sprawled on the round table and clicked open a pen and sketched out a pyramid. "Okay, so you're at the top obviously," she said motioning in my direction with the pen. Andrea scrawled _Faith _atop of the sketch. "So, we need a, er second in command" she said looking hopefully up at me. I glanced over at Daryl, trying to decide which would be the best choice. "No, thanks Faith, but I'm not that into politic crap but I will stick around and help out though." Daryl decided for me making a small surrendering motion with his hands illustrating his thoughts. I nearly let out a sigh of relief, "Ok, well that's a pretty easy choice then, "I said breezily. " You can write Andrea next to deputy then."

I stood atop of an overturned army - cargo truck. "Can I have everyone attention please?" I called to the bustling crowd. For most of the day the occupants of this lonely, half-destroyed town hung around the mini-market place set up on the main road. Along the main road was the drugstore, the hardware store, the warehouse, a couple of empty houses and abandoned stores with only spider webs and old crates left behind. The market wasn't so much of a market, rather a communal place for people to hang where there was food. A couple of kids every day set up two or three fold up tables and handed out rations to the line-up of kids. The crowd of kids all turned their eyes up to me, even the youngest hushed into silence. "I know things are simple enough now, but things aren't going to stay the same. Eventually we're going to run out of food, the powers not going to last forever and so on." I began. "So what are we going to do?!" A young red haired girl cried. "We're going to survive. That means we have to find a non-exhaustible food source for starters." When all I got was blank stares and silence in reply I chose a different tact. "Ok, before quicki-marts, Woolworths, Coles and Wall-marts or whatever people hunted for their own food." I explained.

"What like... Native Americans?"

"And Aboriginals?"

"Yes, exactly! They didn't rely on other people to supply their food for them, they lived off the land, and that's exactly what we need to do now." I exclaimed. "And to do that we're going to, each and every one of us, need jobs, have responsibilities."

For another hour or so everyone began putting forward ideas, suggestions and different jobs everyone could have. Another hour was spent sitting at one of the fold up tables, having all of them lining up and writing down their name, a census. Andrea approached me just as I finished writing the last name. "Hey," I waved at her with the pen. She sat on the table and opened up a packet of Twisties and began munching on them, "Hey." She said through a mouthful. "So, now that we've got food basically covered, I think we should think about weapons and info." Andrea said casually. "What do you mean by info?" I asked curiously. "There's a library in PB, (Perdido Beach) we need to get into that library, undetected might I add, and get the books we need. Stuff like how to grow stuff and how to build stuff, and I mean, you know." Andrea finished hastily. I looked at her with a suspicious glance, "Really? You would risk giving up our position for some books?" "Okay, well, I was gonna say that while we're in PB we can, you know... raid the police station?" Andrea said almost shyly. "Andrea, I don't know..." I began. " We can go tonight! We take the guns, ammo, the books ... and we're set! They won't be expecting it! I mean it's not like they can track us and we won't be caught if we're quick." Andrea finished. I let out a thoughtful sigh and said, "Ok, Andrea, I'll think about it."

After everyone went back to sitting around and doing nothing I went back to the flat. I tossed the notebook containing the 40 names on the desk and picked up a towel from the bed and walked over to the shower. I stood naked under the warm, perfect water. My hair curled and slicked against my back and shoulders. I'd hadn't even had a chance to even stop and relax since I had gotten here. Now I had a chance to think. My thoughts automatically raced to Drake, _was he dead? Did Caine find out? Had Drake somehow killed Penny to shut her up? _My mind began to race, but instantly slowed down as I felt a pair of arms wrap around my waist. At that point, I should have panicked and beaten the shit out of whoever had managed to break into my home and try and feel me up in the shower. I might have just done that if Drakes voice didn't whisper in my ear. _"I would lie for you; I would die for you, would you do the same, my love?" _His lips ran down my neck as I registered what he had said. Just as I began to reply, his hands grew cold, freezing, and his teeth became sharp and needle like as a cats and he began bitting into my neck going for my jugular. I let out a scream and turned and faced him. He was standing naked with blood streaming from his eyes like he was crying, but his eyes... his eyes glowed an emerald green, exactly like Katie's'. He hissed and then screamed at me in Katie's voice,_ "LIAR!"_

I sat on my bed crying, I began sweating because of the fear that made my heart hammer in my chest. _It was just a hallucination; it was just a hallucination, not real...not real..._ How could I have thought it was actually Drake? The voice...the scream... I felt so violated. I was constantly feeling my neck to see if there were any marks, bite marks. I wasn't going to survive this, staying here in the flat. I wouldn't survive if I couldn't find my courage, I had to accept what I had done, that it was me who snapped her neck, that I might be forced to do the same thing again. Andrea was right, about what we needed, not just the books, but the weapons too, we needed to defend ourselves. I blinked away the last of my tears, wiping them away with the sleeve of my jumper. I stared at the sheath sitting placidly on the desk with Katie's gun tucked inside. I pulled out the gun slowly and looked at it closely. I inhaled slowly and deeply I was tucked it back in the sheath. I picked up the sheath and wrapped the leather straps around my right leg without hesitation. I took off my jumper and picked up my black coat from the basket of clothes Andrea had given me. I went up to a full-length mirror that hung on the pillar next to my bed and put on the coat. I nearly could forgot about my traumatic experience as I looked at myself, I had to say, I suited the outfit. A black singlet-type top with black leather shorts, knee-high black boots, and the gun and coat kinda went with my personality.

I closed the door behind me as I walked out of the flat. I walked onto the field and spotted Andrea walking toward me." Hey, Faith I was just coming over to find you! Um, I was wondering if you had decided about getting the stuff we need." "It's not going to be like dropping into the grocery store, but you're right, we need that stuff." I answered. Andrea let out a sigh of relief and said "oh, thank God! Hey, me and Daryl we exploring around town, and we found something I think you're gonna like." Andrea led me around to the other side of the warehouse to small garage/shed where Daryl sat cross legged drinking a can beer. "Got bored did we?" Andrea teased. Daryl replied with a simple grunt. Andrea crouched and shoved her hands under the door and began to lift it up. "H-hey, a little help over here?" Andrea rasped. Daryl crushed the can and began pulling the door up. The door rolled the rest of the way up to reveal a black army jeep. I let out an impressed whistle and said

"Nice, now we just need a fucking plan."

Chapter 3

_Another Day, another dead_

Fear burned in his eyes. "Please! I don't know nothin! I swear!" Federico cried. I pulled out a revolver and flicked out the chamber. I took out five of the bullets out of six and spun it around before slamming the chamber back in. I spread my legs and sat in his lap and pointed the revolver at his crotch. "No,no,no,no..." He cried. "It's the roll of the dice. Now, I'm going to ask you again, where is Sam?" I hissed. " O-ok, I really don't know man, he shows up here at the school right? then he just takes off with that other freak Dekka." Federico stammered. _Click._ Federico flinched as his eyes grew round "Tisk, Tisk" I said as the gun clicked over to another magazine. "All I want to know is where the bastard is, so that I can hack his arm off." I said with a smile.

We decided heard off at the gorgeous time of three in the morning, with three hours to complete the job, get in and out. Once we had tossed what we needed in the back of the Jeep, which included tools, a hunting rifle, torches and some rope. I felt for Drakes knife as Andrea tossed her metal baseball bat in the Jeep.

I missed him, I missed normal._ 'But normal crashed and burned long ago'_, I thought as I examined the tattoos that decorated my hand. "Ok, so who's gonna drive?" Daryl asked looking to Andrea, myself and Stacey. Stacey had helped out with the census before and I asked her to come along with us now. "I've driven before," I said gingerly.

We all clambered in. I jumped into the front seat and looked over my shoulder to see Daryl and Stacey hopping into the backseat with Daryl's rifle and Stacey's hand gun in tow.

"We won't have to, you know... kill anybody right?" Stacey asked shakily as the engine growled to life. Andrea gave a cautious look, not sure of whether she should answer. I looked back at her and replied, "I doubt we even have to hurt anyone, everyone is going to be asleep in their homes, all we have to do is go in there and get what we need." I turned back and pushed down on the accelerator, half believing my own words, hoping they were true.

We had been bumping along in the dark for only two minutes before I came up with the ingenious idea of turning on the head lights. Another eight minutes past of awkward silence before Andrea spoke up. "Nice ink, but my folks would kill me if I tried getting anything that cool." She said as she looked at my tattoos on my right arm. "Yeah, thanks they're kind of new, and unexpected," I replied unsure and slightly nervous of the conversations direction. "Yeah, I kinda guest about that, I'm just asking, if you know...different?" She asked, her lack of confidence showing in her voice. "Yes, I guess I am,...different." I said. Noticing my lack of hesitation she continued, "So, can you do anything cool?" Andrea said with a smile. This really shouldn't have caught me off guard, but I had no real answer. "Um, I don't really know, it's kind of...complicated I guess." Her expression obviously showing her lack of satisfaction she peered curiously back at my arm but didn't press.

The sun had slowly begun to poke its head above the horizon. "What the...?" Andrea trailed off obviously confused. "No fucking way, we should have another two hours of night!" Daryl exclaimed angrily. A buildings silhouette came into sight not a minute later.

"Hey, Andrea said as she pulled out the map of PB, this is the Raplhs', pull up behind it and turn off the headlights." I did as she asked and killed the engine. "Ok, we go by foot from here." I announced as we all piled out of the Jeep. Daryl lugged the four duffle bags out of the back and set them down by the tree stump Andrea had flattened the map on. I unzipped the black duffle bag and pulled out a torch and a red marker. I clicked the torch on and shone it over the map." I knew we should have come sooner, not fucking waiting till three in the morning." Daryl growled as he paced around the stump with his hands holding his head in a frustrated pose. With a sigh I tried to reason, "There's nothing we can do now but finish the mission. Jay said that the only time that the station isn't under-guard is when the late shift leaves to switch with the early-bird shift, which should be soon." Jay had been a low level thug previously from Coates before he was kicked out for being a drunk, useless piece of shit, as he described it. He'd been wondering around the forest, no direction, no cares and zero fucks given before Andrea found him and took him under her wing. In return for her kindness he revealed all his info about PBs detail. Everyone gathered around the stump and looked to me expectantly. "Ok, I said as I flicked the lid of the marker, we're here." I placed a dot where the Raplhs or previously Ginas' minimart was. "And, we need to go here," I drew a line from the dot up the highway, past the gas-station and branched off to the local police station, I then continued the line upward and finished at the public library.

"Ok, we'll split into two teams, me and Andrea will do the police station and Stacey and Daryl will get the books." I directed as I copied the same route to an identical map on a tourist pamphlet. Daryl handed all of us an empty duffle bag and a flashlight. "Ok, everyone good with that?" I asked, once everyone nodded in reply we set off.

Andrea and I jogged silently up to the station, dufflebags shifting on our backs." Hey, get down!" Andrea hissed, crouching behind a hedge that bordered the station and the craft store. I squatted down on my haunches next to her and peered through the hedge. A young boy holding a handgun walked down the steps and stalked off down the street into the morning leaving the station without a guard.

Keeping low we moved up to the station door and stood outside. Andrea twisted the brass knob impatiently but the door didn't give. We exchanged an irritated glance and I said, "Ok, should've seen that coming, let's find a window," I motioned to her for us to split up. I walked around the left side of the station and looked for a window or opening. "Hey, I found one!" Andrea called from the other side. I jogged over to her and helped her raise the stubborn, old rusted window up. I clambered in first and landed silently on the dark wood desk next to an ancient PC monitor. With a heavy thud Andrea landed beside me awkwardly and rolled off and landed on her side on the floor. "Shush!" I hissed at her with a glare. "Sorry," she said with an embarrassed grin. I hopped off the desk and swung the duffle bag on the desk and unzipped it. I fished through the bag and pulled out a torch and clicked it on. Andrea got up and walked over to the light switch, "No, no lights, or we'll stick out like a glowstick, they think nobody's in here," I said. "Ok, let's start then," Andrea replied.

Daryl gave a grunt of effort as he hefted the over-weight encyclopaedia into his blue duffle bag. As Stacey gathered an armful of books and asked, "You okay with that?" Picking up yet another stack of dust-layered books and piling them in the bag he replied, "Yup." "I'm sure they're having just as much as we are at the station," Stacey said sarcastically, finishing with a sneeze. "I'm sure," Daryl replied. "Oookk, next up on the list isss society development," Stacey said. "All of it?" Daryl asked, his tired arms sagging to his side. " Errr, 15th century and modern," She replied. "Joy," he growled squinting in the dim torch light looking for 'M'.

"Fuck yeah, SCORE!" Andrea squealed holding up a military style shot-gun. "Nice," I replied fiddling happily with a revolver, flicking the chamber in and out. "Ok, enough playtime let's finish this up," Andrea decided. The duffle bags were nearly over-flowing with all sorts of guns, ammo, Tasers and a garlic spray-can.

"The bags are full, should we head back?" Andrea asked. "Well, we haven't checked out the dress rooms," I brought up. "You give it a quick sweep and grab anything useful and I'll finish things up in here," Andrea declared. I gave her a quick nod and walked to over to the locker/change room. I found two black, sport-materiel bags and filled it with what I found and thought was useful. I stuffed them with drinking canisters, 3 more Tasers, 5 stale muesli bars and 4 two way radios. I shrugged the heavy packs on my bag walked out of the room, "Ok, good to go?" I asked Andrea. "Uhuh," she replied hefting the duffle-bags on her back.

On the walk back to the Jeep we ran into Daryl and Stacey, I past one of the bags over to Stacey and grabbed my duffle bag from her and swung it behind me. Suddenly, a gun-shot sounded far off in the distance. "What the...?" Daryl trailed off puzzled. "It's probably nothing, just a kid with a gun who shouldn't," I dismissed. "Wait, you guys here that?" I froze to the spot as I heard the loud screams of little children. "Hear what?" Andrea asked concerned. I dropped the two bags and sprinted to the screams. I hadn't ever been very athletic, but now, I felt as light as air, my legs powered relentlessly underneath me down the street. As I got closer and closer to the source I began to hear growls, barks and I began to smell the disgusting scent of rotted meat and piss.

I slammed to a halt in the middle of the town plaza. A crowd of scared looking kids rushed past me in a panicked daze. I looked at them curiously, wondering if they knew their young ones were on danger. I pushed my way through the crowd, fighting back against the surge of people. I broke into a run, I listened harder concentrated on hearing the same sound, but instead of screams and sobs an explosion lit up further down the main street. Not only did I hear it, I saw it, gun shots sounded and an angry cry closely followed. Once I pin-pointed the sounds of gun-fire that were coming from the day-care I launched into a full sprint. But, before I reached the day-care I was stopped but a sight I thought I would never see. From the alley-way separating the day-care and the hardware store Drake Merwin appeared, sprinting across the street with a red, snake-like whip wound around his waist that began at the stump of his left arm.

"Watch out!" Daryl exclaimed, jumping back and grabbing Stacey's collar, yanking her back with him as a black SUV screamed past. "Looks like somebody's in a rush," Andrea said irritably. "Let's just get back to the Jeep," he grumbled picking up the bags he had dropped. "What about Faith?" Andrea asked. "Let's dump our stuff at the Jeep, Stacey you stay with the Jeep and guard it, if we don't turn up in 2 hours then go back to Stefano Ray with the loot," Daryl ordered. Stacey gave him a disappointed look, "Look, I know, it's not that I don't trust it's that we have a lot riding on this mission," Daryl reasoned.

I stood stunned, I could do nothing but watch him cross the street and jump the fence.

_...isn't real...can't be real...can't be..._

It must just be another hallucination, I thought. His arm, _his arm,_ it wasn't an arm, it was a whip! So of course it wasn't real. It didn't stop me running after him though. I vaulted over the fence and landed on a stretch grass. I followed him across the plaza which was now empty and up San Pablo Avenue. We past the church and the Town hall, and ran down Golding street. He finally slowed down and went into the house with white and blue shutters with trash scattered on the lawn. I slowed and stopped on the pathway outside. Suddenly, I was nervous; my mind had been playing games with me, taunting and tearing at my sanity. I actually didn't know whether it was really my Drake that I had chased to this house. I walked up to the porch and began to twist the door knob.

Ugh! Drake was going to kill Sam, he was going to kill Astrid, and Quinn that traitor. _Creeakk._ Drake drew his gun and unwound his whip and turned around facing the intruder. "Drake?" a familiar voice asked. He dropped his gun on the floor and drew her into his arms, well arm and tentacle thingy.

"Is this really you?" I asked him. To my surprise, he answered, "Yeah, you like?" I looked up at him and smiled, and he returned it with a genuine grin. I placed my head on his chest, relishing his warmth and he kissed my temple. I felt around my back to where his whip tentacle was wrapped. "How...?" I began. "It's kind of a long story," He replied. "Give me the short version," I asked warily. "Alright, I captured some, fucking arch enemies of Caine, one of them a was freak, burnt my fucking arm off and...this grew back," He finished. "That's horrible!" I exclaimed, the horror of it clenching my gut.

_Awooohhhh! _A coyote's howl screamed out into the sky. _That's what the growling must have been, and the reason for the screams. _"Pack Leader," Drake said faintly. "What?" I asked puzzled. "I have to go," He said staring off in the distance. "What? No! You can't leave!" I cried. He bent down and enveloped me in a passionate kiss, once again he held me closer to him that I thought possible, close enough that I could hear the _thump, thump_ of his heartbeat. I stepped away from him and took in a deep breath, "Ok, you can go now," I said wiping my mouth with the sleeve of my coat.

_BLAM, BLAM!_

The shotgun kicked in Andrea's tight grip as she blew a coyote's brain out with a shotgun.

Daryl and Andrea had gone looking for Faith and had ended up battling horribly mutated, English speaking, overgrown Coyotes. "To the left," Daryl warned her. Andrea drew her knife and stabbed it through the Coyote's muzzle, she twisted and it gave a satisfying crunch.

They had been looking for her without a clue where she went. They ended up in the Town plaza and ran into a pack of Coyotes, a kid with a Mexican accent, and another jumpy kid who could be the poster boy of anti-trigger happiness. Together, they all fought these horrible things that attacked the prees.

We split up, Drake took after Howard and Orc and I took a couple of shortcuts up and over the backyards, back to the plaza. I vaulted over the final fence to see feral wolf-looking things attacking a group of kids. I pulled out my handgun from the holster and shot the Coyote that was mauling a two year old kid. Two Coyotes swung their scarred, horrid faces to me with a growl and sprinted at me. I shot the smaller of the two, **_click, click,_** Fuck! I needed to reload. In my hesitation the Coyote seemed to grin as he launched himself at me. He pinned me to the ground and snapped his jaws hungrily at me, I wrapped my hand around his muzzle and stopped him from tearing my face off. Suddenly the coyote's weight was swept off me and two powerful hands pulled me up onto my feet. "Andrea, Daryl?" I said to the two of them standing in front of me, covered in blood.

We fought the foul things, Daryl, Andrea, and two strangers called Edilio and Quinn. Daryl with his hunting rifle and machete, Andrea with a skinning knife and shotgun and I wielded my handgun and Drak-my hunting blade.

They began to retreat, running out of the town and down the desert road. As I watched the last of them hightail it out of town, suddenly I was slammed to the ground. A hot, stank breath blew on my face. One of the fuckers had snuck up behind me, and was now glowering in my face. I pushed desperately at its' chest, trying to pry the horrid thing off me. I gathered all my might and shoved it away as much as I could, which gave me a 10 second time window. I looked around franticly trying to find something, _anything_ that would help, I then spotted a chunk of brick next to me. I shifted slightly and snatched it, the Coyote dived, a millimetre from my throat I smacked it with the brick with all my strength. A satisfying _crack! _Was my reward. With a final kick to its' stomach the Coyote flew backwards.

I gave my head a slight shake, rearranging my thoughts. _BOOM!_ A massive explosion sounded behind me, sending bits of brick and debris hammering my back. I rolled on my belly and closed my eyes, I raised my head and pried open my eyes to see a burning light consuming my field of vision. _I'm dead? Really? After all that shit, fuck...still virgin... _I thought miserably. My misery fizzled out as I realized the light had a source. A boy with brown hair, who was bruised and bleeding he held his palm outwards,and the brilliant light produced from it.

_Sam!_ I thought with a hiss. _'Burnt my fucking arm off...'_

Sam lowered his arm and looked around frantically, looking for something or someone. Suddenly, an invisible force slammed him into the wall of a half-destroyed house. He slid down onto the road in a crumpled heap. He lay unmoving for a while before slowly beginning to stir.

Now was my chance! Revenge stirred inside me, gnawing and urging me on.

_AHHH!_ A high pitched scream echoed in the plaza. I twisted my gaze from Sam and looked for the source. A little girl, probably no older than 5 writhed under the Coyote I had wrestled off me.

Time slowed as my choices became clear.

_Kill Sam, or save an innocent._

There would be no retribution worthy for me if I chose vengeance, because then there would be no difference between me and the monster that hid inside of me.

Time began to speed up, the coyote's jaws were just inches away from the girls' throat, and I was running out of time. My knife was gone, it had fallen out in the first wave, and my gun was less than useless with no ammo. I jumped to my feet and looked around, scanning for something, _anything _that would work as a weapon.

Then I spotted it.

In the back of a rusted four-wheeled drive, cultivation equipment lay in the trailer with a tarp partially covering it. A Scythe stuck out, its metal blade glinting in the morning light. I rushed over there and yanked it out; it was in surprising good shape, perfect for Coyote killing.

I charged the Coyote and undercut the Coyote with Scythe, impaling it through its middle. With unknown strength I hefted it upwards and flung it away off the blade, as if it was easy as swatting a fly.

The little girl had ceased screaming and now just trembled. Her skin was pale and was decorated with flecks of blood, her right arm was horribly mauled and her legs and left arm was covered in bite marks and scratches. I must have looked terrifying, covered in blood, snarling with battle-rage and holding the Scythe I must have looked like death. One look at me and she passed out, she couldn't wait for a doctor, and I wasn't going to let my sacrifice be wasted with her dying anyway.

"Faith!" a voice called. I looked around and spotted Andrea and Daryl looking absolutely exhausted and walking towards me. Andrea came to a stop by my side and asked in a small voice, "Is she...dead?" "No, just passed out, hold this," I replied, passing her my Scythe. I picked up the girl in my arms, her grey hair falling loosely down her back.

Stacey had been starting up the Jeep by the time we got back, she had nearly left us behind. I sat in the back with the little girl curled up on my lap leaning on my chest. The Jeep hit a bump and the girl gave a soft moan. At least she was alive, even unconscious.

I looked up at the half-risen sun, I was both happy and sad, but mainly unsatisfied.

I was happy that the mission was a success, Edilio and Quinn had run off before they could even ask us who we were. I guess they had just assumed we were just some random PB kids who had guns and guts.

I was sad over what had happened to Drake, his mutation was horribly exposed, I could relate with my tattoos and all, but the true monster was under-wraps, most of time anyway.

And unsatisfied because we couldn't be together, this universe that we were trapped in was a small one, but we were from two sides of this universe. And that distance was large enough to hurt.

I carried the girl to the warehouse. Another girl, the same age as me, 14, named Mackenzie was the communities' amateur nurse. Her mother had been a doctor, a single mum, so she had dragged Mackenzie to work with her on weekends, taught her about stitches, natural herbs that can be found in the wild, how to clean wounds and stop bleeding.

I entered the make shift infirmary, and set her down on a camper-fold up bed. I walked over to Mackenzie, she had fallen asleep at her desk using her overweight, ancient medical reference book as a pillow.

I shook her shoulder gently, "Mackenzie," I called evenly. Her head shot up immediately and began spluttering un-illegible apologies. "It's okay, your exhausted, don't worry I get it, I just have a patient who I think really needs to see you." She followed my gaze and stood upright, hurriedly walking over to the girl.

"Um, do you need me to stay?" I asked. "Oh, no, no need for that, I'll just go wake one or two apprentices," Mackenzie dismissed._ Apprentices? Ugh, too tired to care._

I glanced back at the girl one last time as I walked out the door of the infirmary.

I stumbled into the flat, exhausted; I collapsed onto my bed, asleep before my head hit the pillow.

I opened my eyes to see Static's face in mine. "Ah, good you're awake," He said, taking a few steps backwards. I stood up and looked at him again, slightly confused.

He was bigger, he had a gold ring pierced in his right ear, and half way down his tail silver spikes formed, growing bigger the further down the tail they were. "You look, er, different," I said.

He stood up, glancing around and then starred back at me, "as you grow as a leader and warrior, so does Static."

"So, every night, will I come here?" I asked. "No, only when Static wishes it," Static replied. "And what are you, are you part of my powers?" I queried.

"There is too much that Static must explain and not enough time."

"Then what do you want from me then?" I asked. "It's not what Static wants, it's what_ you _need," He replied, vague as ever. "And what is it that I need?"

"If you are going to teach others to fight, to survive, to live without fear you need to know how to first," Static said. "I-I..." I stammered. "Your promise cannot be empty or their loyalty will be just as hollow," Static advised.

"How am I supposed to learn all of this?" I said, desperation creeping into my voice. "I will teach you," Static replied. I looked at him, my head tilted to the side and I found myself nodding.

_'And down the rabbit hole Alice went, not once thinking of how she was to get out again.'_

Chapter 4

_Dantes' Fire_

_Back and forth, cutting deeper and deeper…_ The saws teeth cut relentlessly, tearing away at the dead flesh on his left arm. The pain, merciless pain had become Drake Merwins world now, all he could hear, all he could smell, it had taken over his mind and wouldn't let go. He hadn't believed there was anything like this, he could only bear it in sort time spans. Most of the time he lay unconscious, but his fevered nightmares were just as riddled with pain and agony as reality. Drake had told Caine to shoot him, to end it, no he had _begged him_, but Caine had denied him this. He had given up screaming, his throat hadn't allowed him, and it had grown raw, strained.

Now all he could do was yell in his mind about how much he would hurt those responsible. But as he did this dot, a tiny pocket of light appeared in the red mass of his mind. He had felt there was nothing worth enough living for, but even in his state he thought of her. _If_ she was still alive, _if _she loved him as much as he loved her then maybe there was something.

_The strength of ten-thousand…_That's what I felt in my muscles. My arms, my legs, hundreds of times stronger. My hands grew larger and thick, sharp claws grew half way down my fingers, two thick fangs replaced my two things that were my teeth .It felt as if my spine grew out of my back, a black tail whipped behind me. My tattoos glowed, a firefly in the gaze of the full moon of the Fayz. Rage once again engulfed me, and in turn I howled into the night. I bashed open the bolted door and looked back, a rusted chain lay scattered all over the wooden floor. I sprinted out of the cabin and charged through the forest. I slammed to a halt when I spotted a clearing ahead, and hid in the brush.

A young, small, silver-haired girl stood with her back to me in the middle of the clearing. My claws dug into the ground and my tail twitched impatiently shifting the leaves behind me. A twig snapped under my foot and the girl spun around, blue eyes wide. The forest scents and her fear-scent flooded my senses, that was enough for me. I launched out of the brush and slammed onto her, pinning her to the forest floor. I tore her throat out, blood spurting this way and that, gushing out, staining the too-bright grass. The blue light in her eyes began to die, fading slowly as she choked on her own blood. I glared back at her, rage still pumping through my veins, as I watched the life drain out of her.

Chapter 5

_A Very Merry Christmas in the Fayz_

I sat on the concrete throne, as everyone had dubbed it, and held my Scythe as King would hold his royal sceptre and watched the youngest of the clan play in the streets.

"Faith, Faith!" Andrea called, snapping me out of my distraction. Andrea and Daryl stood before me, giving me a concerned look.

"Look, I get deciding the name of our, well, community isn't the biggest issue, but it is a pretty important part of our reputation," Daryl brought up.

A loud screech sounded above me, I looked up to see a raven and a blue Jay locked, mid-air in a loud feather filled battle. The raven's beak speared through the Jay's throat. The raven hooked its right claw on the Blue Jays wing and tore it off, then flew off with a caw.

The Blue Jay's corpse landed with a thud at my feet. I looked up at the two and said, "RavenClan."

Another hour was spent discussing the needs of the clan and the issues of the day."Ah, I think I might go for a walk, you know, stretch my legs," I announced to Andrea who was gathering her mountain of notebooks.

"What, you're not coming to dinner?" Andrea asked. "Er, what do you mean, dinner? I usually just eat by myself, or, well not at all," I replied. I was always busy, always had something to do, so I tented to miss meals.

Andrea in return gave me a '_Seriously?!' _look. "Did you forget?" Andrea asked, still wearing that look. "Um, forget what exactly?" I said, confused as ever. "It's Christmas Eve nitwit!" Andrea exclaimed. "We're having Christmas Eve Dinner tonight, and then tomorrow we're having Christmas lunch," Andrea explained.

"You, er, already explained this to me I suppose," I said, pinching the bridge of my nose. "It's ok, you've got enough to do, so Stacey and I organised everything, the word spread pretty quickly around town, so, we've prepared enough for everyone," Andrea said. "I don't know, this would drain a lot of our resources, and we can't afford to waste food," I said, doubt tracing every word.

Andreas' face then grew serious, "Faith, I don't want to guilt you, really, but we don't know how long this thing is going to last, and some of these kids might not have another Christmas,"

As the reality of situation hit me, I felt as if another ton of weight had been added to my shoulders. Even if it was just for one or two days without being weighted down like this I would do it, and worry about the things that required being worried about after."Fine," I sighed.

"Oh, and keep the drugs and drinks to a minimum, please!" I called out to her with a laugh.

We were high and absolutely wasted as we lay around the warehouse, carpeting the floor with drunken, mostly unconscious bodies.

In the main room downstairs, they had dragged a long, dark wood table and a brown, leather couch in. I lay on the couch, attempting to count the stars I saw. Andrea lay there too, lay opposite to me. Her legs draped over the top of couch.

"I, have a sneakinggg suspicion, that _you, _my dear lady have a thing for bad boys," Andrea slurred. "Drake? Pftt he's not bad,… justtt psychopathic," I replied, that same slur oozing in my voice.

Daryl then rose from the floor, looking like he had risen from the dead. "Hah! No denial! Still a thing!" he laughed, then slumped back on the floor with a thud.

Andrea began to giggle, "Kinky, and you know it," Leaning her head back with a laugh. According to my current logic, if she laughed with her head tipped back then she would choke. "Oh, my love, don't die," I tugged at her hair and watched her head tip forward.

Daryl had somehow managed to sit himself up, "And a merry Christmas to one and to all," He said, two seconds before throwing up…everywhere.

Andrea and I exchanged the same, baffled look, "Why are you talking to the wall?"

Chapter 6

_Hungry in the Dark_

I walked upstairs and out of the basement. The scent of Federico's blood and fear overwhelmed my senses. I needed to rest; my head still throbbed from the infamous Christmas celebration.

The sun smiled today, its warm rays enveloping my tired face. A hand tapped my shoulder, "Faith?" a voice asked. I turned to see Andrea, her golden hair glowing in the sun, "Oh, hey," I said. "Oh, er, it's ok, we can talk later," She said, realising how tired I was. "Ok then, we'll talk later this avo," I replied, a yawn creeping up.

I walked into the flat, closing the door behind me. I risked a glance to my desk; my MacBook sat there, 5 notifications blinking on the screen.

Christmas had been quite depressing; it had been everyone's first without parents. No phony holiday ads telling you to buy this and that. Christmas day we all gave little presents, anything they could find really.

Andrea and Daryl had found me a computer, said it would help with managing everything, plus it had _Amnesia _installed in it, which Daryl said was an awesome horror game.

I would see to the problems of the clan later, I needed to rest, and I needed to talk to Static. I threw off my coat and crawled under the sheets and closed my eyes.

I opened my eyes and all I saw was the white fluff of my pillow. But I wasn't lying in bed, because I couldn't feel anything, I was weightless. I got up and out of bed, I looked back and realised with a shock that I had left my body behind. I examined my hands; they were transparent, ghost like. I walked over to the mirror and found that it wasn't just my hands; my whole body was nearly see- through.

_What the hell is going on?_

At least me, or my body was safe and tucked in bed asleep. My first thought was to try and wake up, get out of whatever this was. But no, I wouldn't, I wouldn't panic either, I would figure out what was going on and figure if I can use it to my advantage.

I found I couldn't touch anything in the room. My clothes still did their job thank God, and I wasn't defenceless, my gun, which I had thankfully fallen asleep with was tucked in its' holster.

I casually walked through the front door, and looked around in awe. The ground, hills, sky and building were all grey; everything looks like they're disintegrating into grey sand. The scenery rippled, like I was standing in a grey Sandstorm.

"You look like an old, sick, dying firefly," A mysterious voice mocked behind me.

I drew my gun and spun pointing the imaginary crosshair at the person.

The person turned out to be a man. A _really _attractive man, probably in his twenties wearing a butler get-up with a silver pocket watch in his hand. His black hair danced in front of his crimson eyes that stared at me with curiosity.

With a blink I quit drooling and pointed my gun at his temple. "Who are you?" I asked, ice lacing every word. Probably wasn't the best time to admit that I had no idea what was happening, or where I was.

"Sebastian," He said, extending his hand. Odd as it was I wanted to see if he was real or not, so I took it, stupidly expecting a handshake. Instead of shaking my hand he lent down and kissed my knuckles, in the old fashioned manner. I snapped my hand back, my finger inching closer to the trigger. "What are you?" I asked.

A sly smile crept across his face, as if pleased with the question. " You're smarter than you look," he replied. "A contractor, of sorts, a dealer of deals," Sebastian said. "What? Like, the devil?" I asked warily. He began to laugh "No, ah no", "So, if I pulled the trigger, what would happen?" I asked coldly.

"I would die," He replied, not laughing anymore. "In that case, where are we?" I asked. "Limbo, the line between the Beyond, and the materiel world, the place where banished ones hunt, and where no-one can pursue those who wish it," Sebastian replied.

"Ok…" I said, half understanding. "I'd love to continue, but having death only a hop, skip and a squeeze away tends to make one forgetful," He said, mischievousness slipping back in his voice. "I have a proposition for you, one that will benefit us both greatly," Sebastian announced. I lowered my gun, but did not sheath it. "How do I know what you're saying is the truth? That you're not going to stab me in the back or steal my soul?" I said accusingly.

"How about you hear what I have to say, then decide?" He asked with a smile. I paused, and then nodded. He turned and faced the forest, the thorns and trees and brush curled unnaturally away, as if alive.

Sebastian extended the crook of his arm to me, and I hooked my arms with his. He was interesting, and the only thing that made an inch of sense in this strange place, I thought as we walked down the dark forest path.

Worry and nervousness had been weighing down on my heart for a while now, every day becoming heavier and heavier.

I scrolled down the Word doc that was titled _'inventory.' _I went down to the page that said 'food' with a worried sigh. We had begun rationing, the shed that we stored food in had been getting smaller and smaller.

The only reason that we still had food was because of Drake. We weren't the only ones with the food problem; Coates had been running low too. Knowing that Coates was closer we had planned to rob them. On our way there we ran into a car that held Drake, Benno, and some other random I had never met.

After knocking Benno and random guy number one out we tied them up. Together, Drake and I, Andrea and Daryl attacked Ralphs and took what we needed. The guards didn't recognise us, but they recognised Drake.

At the bottom of the hill leading up to Coates Drake and I kissed goodbye, leading to an interrogation by Andrea on the way back.

Before we parted I asked him a question that had been worrying me, "What happened to Penny? Did she tell Caine anything?" "She didn't say anything, she'll never be telling anyone anything again," Drake replied darkly. "You…killed her?" I asked, unsure. "No, we need her alive, but I cut her tongue out and told her that if she ever tried to communicate with someone about what she saw, that It would be her head next," He growled. Violent, Sadistic and Psychopathic, I think Andrea was right about my taste in guys.

A lot of stuff had been happening in not a lot of time. Mackenzie, the clan's healer had begun taking on apprentices. She was training four kids, around 12 to 14 the basics of medicine. Daryl had also been teaching a bunch of 14 year olds how to handle and use a gun while Andrea gathered kids to find food, water, anything salvable.

I now sorted through all the names of the people in the clan, this week I had given myself the task of allocating everyone to their new homes. We decided on renovating the upstairs of the warehouse into living quarters. Now I just had to decide who was going to live there.

_'Ugh'_ I thought, sighing inward. I'd rather be outside, out in the forest or training the others. "Oh, you seem grim, young firefly," A dark voice said behind me. I turned my seat to see Sebastian standing there wearing his usual ridiculous butler attire, a wry smile on his face. "Sebastian? What are you doing here?" I asked, surprised my cheeks glowing an embarrassed red.

"I'm not _really _here, it's just an illusion, a projection," He said, as if he was scolding a child. "Well, er what do you want?" I asked, adding strength to my voice. "To see you, of course," Sebastian replied, making my face brighten even more. "You seem troubled, youngling, trapped," Sebastian said, tilting his head to the side.

"Yeah, I guess, I just have a lot of work to do," I said with a sigh. "Perhaps I could help?" He purred. I spun the chair and faced the computer, "That's not part of the contract, fool," I replied. He slammed his gloved hand down on the desk and leaned down close to my ear, "Fool? Our contract states that until that fateful date I am _bound_ to you, that any wish you have is my duty to full-fill," Sebastian purred, a dark, force- full tone underlining it.

Even though he was just a projection, I stull felt a shudder ripple down my spine. He wasn't someone you wanted to piss off. I would show no weakness, "It looks as if you are already bound," I said pulling his right glove off, revealing the devils' mark. His smile returned, a small, sly one. "Not in this time frame, in fact, not even this universe."

I stood, refusing to be left in the dark, "You must be very busy if you can make deals in any time line you wish, Sebastian," I said. I could only look up at him; he was far too tall for me to glare directly at him. He stared back down at me; there was no hatred or contempt in his eyes, just a very, very guarded look.

As if breaking out of a trance, he gave a slight shake of his head and flicked out his silver-pocket watch. "Getting back to the question, would you like me to finish this tedious chore for you while you go out and get some air? Perhaps take a walk through the forest?" Sebastian asked.

"Fine, but I want to get some things clear," I growled. "Enlighten me," he said with a nod. "You will never lie, you will never betray me, you will _never _harm my friends even if it means harm will come to me and you will full-fill every command I give you without hesitation," I said sternly. "As you wish," Sebastian said with a bow of his head. "And two more things,"

"You tell _no one_ of this deal, understand?" I growled, he nodded his head again. "And, lose the tailcoat, it's the 21st century, or 02 of the Fayz."

"As you wish, master."

_The next day…_

"Hey, Grim, catch!"

I caught the red ball with a laugh, and threw it to Daryl. Eye-hand coordination test. Well, that's what we called it anyway; it was fun to play, and a great way to relax after a long day of work.

As for the 'Grim' title, that was a nickname. We all basically had them now. Andreas' was Red, Daryl's' was Titan and Edwards was Phoenix. Edward was Andrea's boyfriend; they had met a while ago and had gotten close during the Fayz. I could have sworn I saw them making out at the Christmas party.

We had all spent the day renovating upstairs in the warehouse, turning it into a dormitory. I had returned yesterday to flat to find my work done. '_Hmm, always wanted a slave,' _I thought, ignoring the pang of guilt and sorrow.

I didn't mind being called 'Grim' though, it suited me perfectly. My lovely Scythe and Grim, well that was ironic humour at it's finest. The Scythe and I had become one, an extension of myself.

It was a warm, sunny day. This afternoon was a time to forget our troubles and relax without a care. There hadn't been one storm, no rainy days, not even a gust of wind had past through since the Fayz.

Technically, in the food department, that was bad. But most kids loved it, an unending summer. We played on the grass outside the warehouse near my flat. It was Phoenix and Red versus Titan and was the little girl I had saved on the Great Thanksgiving Battle. She didn't have any older brothers or sister, she had basically been on her own since the Fayz started at the Day care. I lay on the grass hill, watching the game.

It was simple, a team of two, one is the king and the other is the knight. The knight has to protect the king; the king carries the red ball that to win has to cross to the other side of the field, past the magic stick that marked the length of the playing field.

I stretched out, and closed my eyes, enjoying the sun.

Warm fur brushed against my side. My eyes widened and I stared at the outline of Static, he was nearly invisible, but his ambers eyes still kept their keen glow. "I-I'm asleep?" I stuttered. "No, my dear, Static accessed you now through the Hypoenigenic state you are currently in, a very relaxed, half asleep sort of mind-set," Static explained.

I began to sit-up, but the more I moved the more he faded. His ears flattened with frustration as he finally disappeared, "Awaken tonight, and Static and you can talk," Static said, his voice softening with each word.

A loud, high, hair-clawing scream exploded in the forest behind me. That snapped me out of my daze. A young 12-year-old girl with flaming red hair charged out of the forest and sprawled onto the field. I jumped to my feet and sprinted over to her and kneeled next to her. Tears streamed down her face as tears violently racked her tiny body. Her auburn hair slicked to the side of her face as she began to mumble something, " So,m-muchh blo-…" "Shhh, Sarah, Sarah, calm down and say something," I hushed.

Taking in rushed, deep, shaking breaths she groaned, ",S-she…I was walking through the forest with Declan, we were looking for a stream for Andrea and, we split and I f-found, her…"

"Who, who did you find?!" I said, worry creeping through me, sending a sinking feeling to my gut.

Her whisper was so soft I almost missed it, "Stacey."

I remember losing my phone once. Even when I stood in the car park, fumbling through my handbag I knew it was gone, that someone had taken it and I couldn't get it back. No matter how much I wanted it, and hated those who took it away from me.

We all charged through the forest, towards the cabin. An old hunter had lived there by himself, decorating the walls of the cabin with stag hides, fox heads and rifles. It sat eerily on top of a hill, at the bottom of the hill was the clearing where Sarah said she had seen poor Stacey.

We all came to stop, and stared blankly, silently at the horrid thing that couldn't possibly be Stacey. I walked over to the corpse and kneeled close, covering my mouth so I could muffle the rising scream. Red took one look at it and threw up behind a tree, Titan just starred, unblinking.

It looked as if a bomb had gone off inside her throat. I clenched my fists and thought, '_I will not be sick, I will not scream, I have to act, keep an even head, stay calm.'_ I forced those words through my head over and over till my heart stopped bashing itself against my rib cage.

Most of her silver hair was stained a blackish red, the only thing that identified her was her sky blue eyes. They were glazed over, staring at the clear sky above in shock. I trembled a bit; they had the same look as Katie's. Guilt began to tear at my insides. '_It wasn't my fault!' _I felt like screaming aloud. I still hadn't a complete idea what my true powers were, but recently I had found out about a particularly dangerous side of them.

Recently, anger, hate and misery had been creeping up inside me. I had bottled it up, kept it under wraps for as long as I could, but I could hardly contain it. Initially I had thought that I had developed some sort of mental, emotional related problem. So, I had snuck in the infirmary and rummaged desperately through the supplies of pills, looking for something, _anything _that could help.

Most people's miseries didn't stick with them. They became a faint memory, something they could grow from, a wound that can heal.

All those wounds, all those scars, were struggling, and fighting to rise out of me. The anger and hate had become too much, so that night I locked myself away in the cabin. I Told no-one of where I was going and prayed to something I never believed in for it to be okay. I bound my legs and hands in chains and hoped that the rage wouldn't take over me, that I wouldn't lose my mind.

The next morning, I woke up half naked on the fringe of the forest, completely free of any horrible, negative feelings. All of them, gone. I had a memory that was faint, thin and small as a string of what happened. I remembered enough that guilt had gnawed at me ever since.

But I had somehow convinced myself it was a dream. Now it would never leave me. "Titan, go get a tarp, another two guys and a shovel," I ordered. Silence answered me. I got up and faced him, he still starred at Stacey as if he was frozen. "Daryl?" I sighed.

Suddenly, Mackenzie appeared out of the shadows. The colour had drained from her face, her sky blue eyes pale as she stared at what was left of Stacey. Then I understood. The silver hair, the sky blue eyes, the petite frame and helpful nature. They were sisters.

If this was all a movie, rain would pour down and I would stare dramatically watching out the window. The grief following Stacey's death weighed down on everyone. You could feel it in the air, I had placed the forest off-limits to everyone.

The oldest in the clan attended the funeral. I had little to say; I had only known Stacey for a little while. I was amazed by Mackenzie's strength, if it had been my sister I probably would've lost it and bawled my eyes out in front of every one.

The youngest girl there was little Ella, she stood next to me hugging the side of my leg for comfort. I stroked the top of her silver head assuring her as Titan began to shovel the dirt into the grave.

Someone had made a little makeshift cross out of two twigs and stuck it at the head. Stacey's death was a reality check. It said to everyone here that we could die, that we're mortal. It had set the land into a depressed, dark mood; even the suns warmth had retreated.

I couldn't tell anyone what had really happened, that my power was the ability to lose control and kill my friends, I couldn't even warn them. I never meant to murder her, to hurt her.

I never wanted to hurt anyone.

Sebastian watched Faith and the young girl gaze at the freshly dug grave. He stood at the edge of the forest and peered at Faith in curiosity. She was different to the other Masters he had had. Their contract was _very _different too, he thought as he straightened the collar of his black coat. _Very different indeed. _And there was no turning back now for either of them.

Faith gazed at herself in the mirror. She wore only a crop top and undies; she had an hour until she was to meet Red and Titan. Red and her was going to test out Titans' makeshift gym made from scraps he found around the town in the warehouse.

With her back to the mirror she examined the wound on her shoulder. There was a faint pink circle with another jagged circle of red inside it. It was the shadow of the bullet hole Penny had graciously given me. I still didn't understand how I survived; my powers were complicated, and frustrating.

The regeneration side effect wasn't too bad though.

I had come to wear my tattoos with pride. They had become part of who I was, and I accepted it. I then examined the Devils mark on the back of my right shoulder. A rush of loss and pain flowed through my mind like a memory you want to forget.

I had an hour to kill, and I wasn't _that _narcissistic that I was going to stare at myself for that long.

I decided to take a nap, I flopped lazily on the over-sized bed and closed my eyes. I hadn't it in a while, but I knew the feeling when I felt it. " Hello, my little firefly," A sly voice said behind me. I was in the familiar 'Dreamscape forest' but -"Why are you here?" I asked Sebastian. I turned around to see my demon sitting atop of a rock smiling his, wry, sly smile of his. "And _why _do you feel the need to call me Firefly? I don't know if you're insulting or complimenting me," I asked, finding myself oddly happy to see him here.

"It depends on the adjective, Master, He replied, the brighter I say you are, the more powerful you are, the more… _desirable _you are." Oh, how very helpful of him to explain it so clearly, how could I ever thank him? "What?" Was my only reply.

A familiar purr sounded, and I turned to Static with a smile, "Static thinks that the Reaper is confused, perhaps we can explain it to her, do you agree Demon?" Static purred, looking to Sebastian with his glassy, ember eyes. "Reaper? Wh-what? Just, fucking explain!" I raged.

"You, are a reincarnation of an ancient evil, the first, Darkness," Sebastian began, his voice sounding just above mildly interested. I stared at the both of them, ever so slowly processing what he said.

"There had been only five forms the Darkness had taken, the original form, Static began.

"The most powerful of the five so far," Sebastian added

"The second, was the first _'witch' _Alice Kyteler and her 'Incubus' were responsible for bearing magic into humans. Alice's 'Incubus' husband was no demon-kin, just a dark-hearted mortal she took a liking too," Sebastian said.

"The third, Empress Wu Zetian, she ruled through her youngest, weakest son, bringing forth a time were the women did not have to bind themselves, and they were not submissive to their husbands, a time of equality," Static explained.

The two of them had begun to circle me slowly, neither of their slitted eyes blinking once as they chanted the story.

"The fourth, Joan of Arc, burnt at the Stake for wearing men's clothes, she led the armies of Charles VII into battle against the English," Sebastian continued.

"And finally, you, Faith Eadths, the Grim Reaper of the Fayz," They concluded in unison.

"Grim Reaper?" I asked weakly as I slumped to my knees. "I-I don't get it, my former lives, there not evil! Joan of Arc was a hero!" I cried. "The darkness isn't particularly_ evil_ per say, but the thin line in between, neither evil nor good," Static said, glancing at Sebastian.

"Each of them had the ability to reap souls," Sebastian said.

"Not, for sustentation, like a demon," Static said.

"Not for a soul itself, like an empty one," Sebastian said.

"But not for judgement, like an actual Grim Reaper," Static added.

"Then what am I?"

"Your not so much of a judge, you require only one, certain part of the soul, the Life Force, the more of those you have, the more power you are able to access," Sebastian explained.

I buried my face in my hands, refusing to look at them, if I did, then I would accept what they said was true. "T-this is too much…" I whimpered. A hand wrapped around my wrist, gently revealing my face. Sebastian's crimson eyes met mine, "Master, you asked for us to explain."

Static sat, perched on a boulder, "Your tattoos are a result of this, all of the reincarnations had to bear some type of inhuman disease, no mere human body is capable of bearing the darkness's power, in your case, the mutation."

"So, I'm a mutant and the personification of death, either way, I'm a freak," I muttered miserably. "Being who you are isn't freakish, it's the most normal, natural thing you can do," Sebastian murmured, resting his forehead against mine.

For that moment, all of his slyness, his ever-present wall of mistrust was lowered, and I breathed in his comforting warmth, then of course my brain decided to remind me of the contract. I pulled away from the strange embrace-like gesture of the strange demon. He opened his crimson eyes and his irritating emotional wall shielded him once more.

I stood on shaky legs, from this moment, I thought, I would no longer show any weakness to him, to any of my enemies. Sebastian was an ally, but I didn't truly trust him, what fool would trust a demon?

"That…thing that I turn into, is that, part of my powers?" I asked, my usual _piss-me-off-and-you-die_ tone returning.

"No, that must be part of your mutation, interesting, it could aid you, if you learn to control it," Static replied, ears flicking this way and that. With a sigh I said, "What now?"

" Your training begins."

Chapter 7

_A dead eye and a dead fox_

November 3rd, On the Road to Santa Barbra

It was cold, very cold. Ear buds in, sitting in the back of a lightning blue Lancer I hummed the tune to _Lovers End _by _The Birthday Massacre._ I tried to block out that hate-filled argument that raged between my parents in the front seat.

I peered out the window, watching the snow-capped forest whirl past in a white blur, concentrating on the lyrics. "_Hands, covering the whispers of the lovers fright-" _It is _your _fault we had to take this detour! Maybe if hadn't been thinking about your _just a friend _Jason, we would be there by now!" I turned the volume up two bars.

"_Feels that concentration of that all night-" _ "How dare you accuse me of lying?! I'm not the one _working back late_ all the time!" Three bars.

_"Digging up rumours of the kids in the park-" _Then I saw him .His hair, suit, and shoes as white as the snow around him. He stood at the side of the road as we came to a slow stop, waiting for the traffic to move. He blinked his beautiful, violet eyes at me as he wore a sad kind of smile. "_What awful things happened in the dark…-" _As the car began to move he knelt and placed a gloved hand on the ground. Four streams of ice snaked towards the car from him, moving at an unnatural pace.

I stared in shock, we sped up and my phone fell to the floor, ripping the ear buds from my ears. I slid under my belt and dived down, tearing my eyes from the ice streams, I could hear the music playing faintly. "_One, two, three, four, lover will suffocate…_ I reached my hand under the seat. Spotting the screens glow- _five six, seven, eight underneath someone's floor…" _

The car suddenly turned, the tires screeching on the tar. I shot up and on my seat, we smashed into the metal guard rail and went right through, soaring down the hill diving head first into a frost covered oak.

I slammed into the passenger seat, the impact shocking. The force threw my dad from his seat, for some reason he hadn't been wearing his seatbelt, and through the front window, sending glass shards everywhere.

Black circles lined my blurred vision as I reached for my mum, she sat in the front seat, with her head slumped to the side, not moving. I didn't cry, I was too shocked, I couldn't process any of this.

I pushed at the passenger door, I had to get to my dad, see if he was okay. The door wouldn't budge, I clambered into the front and out the shattered window. I crawled over the bonnet but slipped, I fell on my back onto the snow-covered ground, impaling the side of my stomach with a_ very _sharp piece of glass.

The pain took my breath away; I had never experienced anything like it. I tried getting up, only doubling the pain. I writhed in agony for a few seconds before passing out, in my unconscious state I hallucinated the strangest thing, two pairs of eyes stared down at me ,dark green and crimson. They spoke the strangest of things,-" Not ready… too young… fight for herself… twisted ones… Ashe…still too _human_."

When I surfaced, all the energy in my body was drained. But I had to move…had to get up, I was probably the only one who could get help and save them. But… why hadn't anyone come to help yet, called for an ambulance or the police? Surely out of all the drivers on the highway at least one would have seen us go over the edge.

I slowly raised my head and spotted the flashing siren of a police car. Yes! Someone had called for help. Then I saw the trail of blood that lead from the cars' open door down the hill and up to a pile of shredded flesh. Bones stuck this way and that from the pile. Then, I screamed. An officer's hat sat close, a bright splash of blood covering the Coat of arms.

Then I heard a growl, a sniff. _A bear? A pack of wolves?_

Three, five-foot horrid wolf things, covered in blood stalked up-right out of the trees and into the clearing where I lay stunned. In the middle, they were cut open so I could see right through them, in the middle, where their 'heart' should have been a dark, green rotten thing resided. It hung tightly by green strings attached to the rest of the body. All of their, white, glowing eyes stared at me with more curiosity than malice.

I then mistakenly looked down. My fathers' bisected corpse lay at their feet, a thick red cut in the middle of his head. _They did this…these monsters took him away…I will kill them… I don't care what happens… No-body gets out if here alive._

My thoughts turned to rage, and fury replaced my heart. Claws replaced my nails, a thick tail with silver spikes at the end extended from my spine and I stood. I ripped out the glass piece without a second thought and stalked toward them.

I barely noticed as they kneeled, bowing their heads toward me, I wouldn't have cared; they were going to die anyway.

I tore the first ones throat out, and ripped the seconds head off. By the time I had killed the third the last two had gotten to their feet staring at me in their strange version of shock. I reached into its body and tore its rotten heart out, watching in satisfaction as it crumpled to the ground.

I stared at the last one as it cowered in fear, "You, get my mother out of wreckage and follow me," I said, my voice sounding like it had an echo. It gave me a small nod and dropped to all fours, jumping into the car wreckage and gently pried my mum out, throwing her unconscious body over it's shoulder.

I walked away from the road, no longer bleeding, leading the creature and my mother way from this place that stank of blood and death and into the forest.

I bolted upright, a thin sheen of sweat covering me as I trembled, the morbid dream replaying over and over in my head. I'd had the same dream for three nights now, but now I knew, that was no dream, just a long forgotten memory, something that I had, and someone else had tried to bury deep in my mind.

"Duck, while their side is exposed, _then_ strike!"

Sebastian raised his sword above his head, swinging down in an arch at me, leaving his torso exposed. I ducked under his sword and punched his side. He hesitated for a second before regaining his footing, giving me a window, I kicked him in the groin making him groan in pain and loosen his grip on his weapon. I yanked the sword the sword from him and brought the hilt full-force on down on his head.

Static watched from a distance, hitched on a boulder on the edge of the clearing he observed the battle with a pleased look, also yelling at me at what to do often with a scowl of frustration that only a cat could muster.

When I had hit enough of Sebastian's pressure points I delivered the final blow, with a final kick he fell to the ground, winning me the fight.

I panted with effort as I helped him up; we had been training for hours. Even in this dreamscape I could grow tired, which all in all was a pain in the ass. Static had said the realer the training, the better. So I don't abuse my power when I'm in reality, thinking that I'm immortal or some bullshit like that.

I didn't even need to be asleep to visit them anymore, right now, my materiel body was siting up-right and cross legged, as if I was meditating .Which I actually _had_ done to get here. I needed to reach I hypnagogic state and then concentrate on the forest dreamscape. I hadn't gone back to Limbo since my first encounter with Sebastian, which I had to say I wasn't very disappointed about.

When I was in Limbo, it felt as if it hadn't been just Sebastian and me, like there had been things hiding in the storm, but was afraid of us. Well, probably afraid of the demon- servant Sebastian who was now at my command.

"All right, that is enough for now, it is time for you to return to the waking world," Static announced, just as he began to fade.

I opened my eyes, my real eyes to find myself in my flat. A rushed knock then sounded at the door. "Whoo is itt?" I called in a sarcastic sing-song voice.

"Your doom," A voice answered. I hefted myself of the floor, "Oh good, what took you so long?" I replied. I opened the door to see a grinning Drake standing before me. I grinned in return, not once asking why he was he here, how he got here, and if he was even real as he kissed me, backing me up into the apartment and lifting me up on the desk.

I wrapped my legs around his waist, pulling him close. I rested my forehead on his, taking in rapid breaths of air, "So, how are you?"

That earned a sincere grin from him. He wrapped his red whip arm around me, "huh, I actually did come here for a reason though," Drake began. "Oh, then I totally interrupted you," I said, combing my fingers through his blond hair. "It's Caine, he's here and Diana," He announced. When he said 'Diana' I tensed, a shiver crept down my spine.

My first victim, I hadn't even known if she'd survived. Drakes' hand stroked the side of my face, "What's wrong?" He asked. "It's nothing, um, where are they now?" I asked. "In your throne room, thing," Drake answered. I unwrapped my legs from around his waist and shifted off the desk. I brushed a blonde strand from his face and said, "Ok, we'll pick this up later."

I sat on my throne, holding my Scythe as a king would hold his sceptre. I studied Caine, as a hawk would look at a mouse. Even though Diana stood next to Caine, it looked as though she hid behind him like a child, even in the dimming light I could easily make out the two pink scars that ran down her neck . Drake stood in the shadows, his whip twitching as he examined me with his glowing, blue eyes.

An armed Red and Titan stood to my left and right, staring coldly at our guests.

"What brings you here, Caine?" I asked, my voice strong and laced with ice. "I am here with a proposal, something that I guarantee will benefit you greatly," Caine announced, his usual swagger and convincing tone was there. But, something was off about him; I could see it, like some part of him was diseased and slowly rotting away…

At least Sebastian admitted that the deal went both ways. " Explain," I said, motioning for him to continue. "Sam Temple, he controls Perdido Beach, which I'm sure you know is a resource filled area, filled with resources _both_ our people need."

"And you want my help to eliminate Temple?" I asked. The blue spark in Caine's eyes brightened. "Sam isn't the only problem, there are… others who wouldn't be the first to side with me."

"Oh, you mean the mutants that you tortured and starved?" I said, sarcasm softening my savage tone. "Well, yes, they escaped with Temple and are now in PB," Caine explained, obviously caught off guard. I stood, glaring down at him, "How could you come here and expect my help? You threw me through a wall and tied me up like an animal and left me to die with those _others_ that you're so afraid of?"

"Alright, alright, I get it you don't want to be friends, but all I'm asking for is a trade, you become my temporary ally, and in return I'll give you _anything _you want." Caine proposed.

I sat back down and massaged my neck, I felt Drakes' blue eyes burn into me. I know what he wanted, he wanted me to pry him from Caine, make the trade and have him here where we could rule this twisted kingdom together.

"You have a deal, Caine."

I ordered Red and Titan to escort the three of them to one of the spare houses.

Red and I lied atop the flats roof, gazing up at the stars that slowly began to appear. "Grim, why is it we have these nicknames anyway?" Red asked. "Because, it shows those around us that we've changed, that we don't belong to the old world anymore, a new name, a new identity," I replied.

I looked down at the field and spotted a dark shape moving towards the flat. "Okayy time to go," I said as I slipped off the roof. Red sat up and watched me get off, "Wait, what? Where are you going?" She asked confusedly. "You, er might want to go, or put some ear-muffs on," I said with a grin.

I went into the flat and closed the door behind me. Then reality decided to bitch-slap me. Number one, I had never done this before. Number two, even though I was turning fifteen in two days I was still under-age, not that it mattered now. Number three, this was probably going to be the most embarrassing experience I had ever had.

The term YOLO came to mind but I crushed it with an iron-fist. A knock sounded at the door. I gripped the desk behind me, _now or never…_

I opened the door to meet Diana, looking pale and frail in the moonlight. I took a step back, clenching my fists in surprise, "Diana, what are you doing here?" Even now, I stared at the scars I had given her, well, other me.

"I-I need to talk to you," Diana stuttered. I peered out the door, another form appeared, this time a snake-like arm flicked restlessly on it's right. "Whatever it is, it can wait," I dismissed. "Talk to me tomorrow, but for now, just pad back to Caine like a good little girl," I growled.

With a slight shake she said, "Okay, okay, just be _careful_," as she spotted Drakes shape saunter up to the flat. "Uhuh," I said as she scampered into the shadows.

Drake ran his lips down my neck as I threw off his Coates blazer. With my legs wrapped around his waist he lifted me up and rested me on the bed. I un-buttoned his white, stained and torn shirt, as I kicked off my boots. Drake pulled off my shorts as I pulled down his pants. He only could pull one leg of my shorts down, his whip brushed against my hip, but he couldn't grip the materiel. He bared his teeth in frustration, "Hey, hey, hey, I said cupping his face in my hands. Calm down, this is supposed to fun, right?" I kissed him, running my hands down his chest, "And maybe a little romantic…"

It was a long, long sleepless night that night. And the best night of my life. Drake made me forget, all my problems, all my troubles. So many people hated him, I knew that, so many people wanted him dead.

But I looked past that, there was a part him. A small dying, part of him that I loved, and if I made that deal and if he stayed with me then I could keep that, then we could stay like this in this world for as long as our lives allowed us.

Every fucking muscle in my body ached, and screamed in protest as I sat my self up. Sunlight streamed in through the window and spread warmth through my sore body. I looked next to me to see Drake, still asleep with his shirt off.

His whip twitched occasionally, which I found slightly creepy. A sheet covered the rest of him. I looked at the rest of the bed and noticed our clothes strewn everywhere, my bra had somehow found it's way onto the ceiling fan. I then realised how naked I was. I pulled the sheet over me and lied back down.

Just as I closed my eyes a hand began to comb its way through my hair. "Rise and shine," Drake said. A sentence I never thought I'd ever hear him say.

I opened my eyes and smiled. I pushed him back down and sat on top of him, I bent down and kissed him. "Morning to you to," He said as he hugged me tighter.

After another hour we got dressed. The rest of the morning was a blur; all my thoughts kept trailing back to the night before. Caine and his posse left, taking Drake with them. The deal had been set, but it was obvious Caine needed the deal more than I did. I set the deal up on my terms, so that when I came to Caine's aid, I would choose whatever I wanted from him.

Diana hadn't ended up talking to me, she followed Caine back to Coates without a goodbye. It left me with an edge of curiousness at what she had to say, what was so important for her to have come to me at night, come to a person who she should fear more than most?

I sat at the wooden table in the alleyway with Shadowstorm. A thirteen year old girl had stepped up named Clary, and had been given the name 'Shadowstorm.' She was quick on her feet and an even quicker thinker. We had formed a sort of council, Titan lead the warriors who guarded the town. Red managed the patrols of three or four 'warriors' that patrolled the perimeter of the forest. Shadowstorm represented the youngest of the clan, about five girls from 13 to 14 cared for the littlies that lived in the upstairs dorm in the warehouse.

While I lead them all, I had promised them survival, and Sebastian and Static would help me become a leader who could full-fill that promise. I turned my head to hear gun-shot sound in the distance. A flock of birds flew up from the forest into the sky with a caw.

"What the…?"

A few minutes later one of the black jeeps pulled up outside the alleyway. A very proud looking Red jumped out followed by Titan. Red held a red mound of bloodied fur in one hand and Titans hunting rifle in the other, she wore a smug grin on her face.

She walked over to the table and dropped the bounty on the table. I looked at it closer and recognised the thing to be a red-fox. "You, er wanna explain, maybe?" I said to Red as she slumped down onto the chair next to me, resting the rifle on her lap.

"Titan and I, went hunting," Red explained, still wearing her grin. "And how did you come across this idea?" I asked her, examining the corpse. "Okay, well, we're running out of food right? Sooo, you've been so busy lately we thought we could _act_ upon one of _your_ ideas," Red said.

Right, my idea. Flashback…

_Yes, exactly! They didn't rely on other people to supply their food for them, they lived off the land, and that's exactly what we need to do now."_

"So, what do you think?"

"Let's hunt."


End file.
